Obama Charts New Course

Brandon Sun “Small
World” Column, Sunday, January 25 / 09Zack
Gross

The election of Barack Obama may usher in a new era of hope and change for America and, therefore, for the world.

Those
of us who have lived through the expectations and then disappointment
of the Clinton era and, previously, the hopes and then tragedy of the
Kennedy years, are likely feeling hesitant to make bold predictions of
what will happen in the coming four or eight years. Mr. Obama’s
inauguration speech calls for a new, more peaceful and constructive
role for the US in today’s world, and whether those pronouncements are
achieved will be the measure of the man and his administration.

Early
in his speech, delivered on January 20th in Washington to a live
audience of two million and a multimedia audience likely of two
billion, President Obama outlined the weaknesses now evident in
America. Its economy is failing: “Homes have been lost;
jobs shed; businesses shuttered”. Health care is costly and
schools are failing. The nation is at war and US energy policy
strengthens its enemies while threatening the planet.
Commentators marveled at how his speech was an indictment of recent
stagnation of US policy in so many areas – science and technology,
transportation, education, social policy – and yet he and George Bush
parted company most amicably, at least on the surface, in what seemed a
smooth transition of power. “A nation cannot prosper long”, says
Obama in his speech, “when it favours only the prosperous”.

In
foreign policy, Obama says that American might does not entitle it “to
do as we please”. Unlike his predecessor, he says that the US
must work with its allies and even with those who’ve opposed it in the
past, to deal with issues of nuclear proliferation, climate change,
human rights and global poverty. Many will see his pledge to end
torture, close Guantanamo and to pull out of Iraq as signs of putting
diplomacy before military force. He calls upon dictators to
loosen their grip, upon the corrupt to come clean, and upon warring
factions to build, not destroy. He offers aid to those who change
their ways. To his own nation, which enjoys “relative wealth”, he
says “we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our
borders, nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to
effect - for the world has changed, and we must change with it.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.”

There is no
doubt that during the Bush era, US global responsibility seemed limited
to a military role and much less to supporting initiatives aimed at
most threats to our planet’s welfare. America, in comparison to
its “relative wealth”, put very little into combating climate change
and HIV/AIDS, or into achieving the United Nations’ Millennium
Development Goals. Indeed, the “science” of climate change was
questioned, AIDS was often seen as retribution for poor lifestyle
choices, and the UN was accused of being corrupt, bloated and
anti-American. It will be interesting to see how these attitudes
change in a new political era, and how steps initiated by Barack Obama
and Hillary Clinton affect our own Canadian government’s stand on
global issues.

Mr. Obama’s inaugural speech, of course, has a
“liberal” bias. He owns an 82% public approval rating as he takes
power and with that come great expectations. The great majority
of Americans want change and he has outlined his vision for that
renewal. To his political right, as he says in his speech,
“cynics” will say that he is too ambitious and too committed to the
idea of a stronger role for government in American society. But,
while Obama’s talk rings of a new-found sense of self-analysis and
co-operation, it still puts the US at the forefront: “We are
ready to lead once more”, “We will defeat you” and (our) “ideals still
light the world”.

As well, Obama harkens back to the
American forefathers who fought the revolutionary war, created the
nation, “settled the West” and so on. An open question is: how
much of the American past and its development actually causes the
economic, social and environmental ills that now beset it – both
internally and globally – today. Can the US understand and come
to terms with slavery and racism, with the dispossession and
eradication of many aboriginal peoples, and with the effects of greed
that must be seen as part of American – as well as Canadian and others
people’s – development, that hold a place in our psyche as much as
virtue and courage do?

The new American President is smart,
ambitious, charismatic and ready to bring about significant change to
his country – to make a better nation and, thus, a better world.
If we didn’t think he cared, or if we didn’t think he had a chance, we
likely wouldn’t pick through his speeches. It is said that when
George W. Bush was inaugurated the first time, few people got excited
because the election was still in dispute. The second time, only
a segment of the population was pleased while the majority was
disenfranchised or disappointed.